The Bonn Challenge: join the world’s largest 24-hour event on restoration
Today, the world's largest restoration initiative launches a global campaign called #RestoreOurFuture marking a decade of restoration action with the Bonn Challenge.
With 61 countries committing to restore over 200 million hectares of degraded and deforested land (almost 6x size of Germany), there is no other restoration programme quite like the Bonn Challenge.
Greenhouse PR is proud to be representing IUCN and the Government of Germany to raise the profile of the unique and vital initiative and encourage more action to support restoration. Our work celebrates the untold benefits that forest restoration brings across the world, putting the land, biodiversity and communities right at the heart of our campaign.
It is hard to capture all the benefits of restoration in one campaign.
To do the Bonn Challenge justice we are creating a rare and exciting programme of live media and social activity, which will run over a 24-hour period. This includes six live panel discussions, a host of restoration films, interviews from government ministers across the world and a new report showcasing top case studies and a new analysis of the impact of the Bonn Challenge.
On the hour every hour, from 00:01 BST on 2 September to 01:00 on 3 September, a new country will be profiled and global leaders and restoration champions will celebrate the benefits that forest landscape restoration (FLR) brings. Alongside this, they will call for increased global commitments from governments to reach the 2030 target of 350 million hectares under restoration, in advance of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
Join the #RestoreOurFuture event on 2 September 2020
Please join our events live today. We invite you to share your experiences and thoughts on why restoration is an essential solution to tackling climate change, economic and social issues and look forward to your feedback.
Top 5 ways to get involved on 2 September:
- Follow @IUCN_Forests on Twitter and the #RestoreOurFuture hashtag.
- Share videos/photos/news articles of any restoration project that you have been a part of or that inspire you.
- Share a video of you talking to a camera about why forest and landscape restoration is important to you.
- Share content in the , and retweet and engage with the live content during the day.
- Watch and engage with a live panel hosted on the IUCN YouTube.
Hear from restoration leaders from over 20 countries
Over 20 panellists are confirmed for 6 live panels - from the Director-General of the IUCN and an Indigenous Member of Congress in Guatemala to the founder of one of the largest youth restoration initiatives. This schedule shows the key moments during the 24-hour event, but there will be much more happening in-between these peaks on #RestoreOurFuture.
Some of the highlights from the live panels:
Youth action on restoration 12:00 BST
Young people are at the forefront of environment and social justice movements worldwide. Panellists will discuss why restoration is important to them, including as a way to tackle the climate crisis. Join the event here and listen to youth leaders from UKSCN, Plant for the Planet and a FLR Youth Ambassafor from Malawi - link to Eventbrite
Vision for the next decade of forest landscape restoration 14:30 BST
Hosted by John Vidal, ex-environment editor at the Guardian, this panel discussion streamed live on Youtube, the co-architects of the Bonn Challenge will reflect on lessons learned and look ahead to the next 10 years of restoration under the Bonn Challenge and the upcoming UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
You can join this event here.
The role of women in forest landscape restoration 16:00 BST
Women play a key role in natural resource use and management, particularly in agriculture and forested landscape systems along value chains. Hosted by Susannah Streeter, broadcaster, investment commentator and former BBC anchor, this panel discussion will delve into how the forest landscape restoration approach can help to reduce inequalities.
Female leaders on the panel include: Cécile Bibiane Ndjebet, African Women's Network for Community Management of Forests; Samantha Figueroa, Member of Congress of Guatemala and Tangu Tumeo, Principal Forestry Adviser, Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining, Department of Forestry (Malawi). You can join this event on the day here.
“The Bonn Challenge provides the evidence we need to further invest in forest landscape restoration. We know that the climate change, biodiversity, health and economic crises have all converged. Forest restoration is not only a powerful and effective nature-based solution to address these challenges, it is also 30% of the solution to carbon removals. The human, environmental and economic case for increasing global restoration action is key to restoring our future.”
Christiana Figueres, co-founder of Global Optimism and the former UN climate chief who oversaw the signing of the Paris Agreement on climate change commented:
Over the past 6 weeks Greenhouse PR has coordinated a huge global campaign across media, digital and influencers. By speaking to over 15 country representatives from across the world Greenhouse created a visually stunning report containing 6 top case studies, produced 10 films, developed a stakeholder and designed over 20 social media assets.
Join the online conversation at #RestoreOurFuture and @IUCN_Forests, for the full schedule of events please click here.
Greenhouse PR works with organisations and leaders who are pioneering climate action. Whether it’s food, fashion, finance or farming, if you’ve got a great story and need our help to tell it, get in touch with the Greenhouse team on 0117 214 1250 or email info@greenhousepr.co.uk.
